The Persistence of Problems Many problems seem to persist, despite our best efforts to solve them – assuming only the tools provided by critical thinking. Some problems are just too hard. We’ll see some problems are solved and solved again, each time with unsatisfactory outcomes. Still others are shrouded in complexity, vagueness, and wickedness. Let’s consider the root origins of these problems in ten steps. 1. We don’t have the tools (yet) to solve them, intellectual, theoretical, or instrumental. Example. Origin of the universe. 2. We don’t know what the real problem is. Example. Explaining matter - from antiquity to wave-particle duality. Disease. 3. We make a solution. It catches on. It becomes the solution until it fails. Then we begin again. New failure. Begin anew, and on and on. Example. Explaining planetary motion took several tries. Pedagogy. Fads! 4. We assume what the solution should be and persist in using i
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